Abstract:

The end of the Cold War brought about a strategic shift in the field of foreign, security and defence policies in Europe. In particular, events like wars, humanitarian catastrophes or terrorist attacks provoked public debates about the future role of the European Union in world politics both in the EU member and the candidate states. The project investigates whether these debates led to the construction of a common European identity. In a longitudinal, comparative, qualitative and quantitative study the media coverage and debate on military and humanitarian intervention will be analysed that took place in the major broadsheets of seven EU member states, among them long-term members like France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and the Netherlands, as well as rather new member states like Austria and Poland. A non-European control case, namely the U.S, is also included. The period of analysis covers sixteen years (1990-2005). The main question of the project is whether a common self-understanding and shared normative convictions have developed in the field of common European foreign, security and defence policies since the end of the Cold War. Furthermore, in case the search proves successful, we will assess how these findings can be explained.

Kantner, Cathleen (2006). 'What is a European Identity? The Emergence of a Shared Ethical Self-Understanding in the European Union'. EUI Working Paper RSCAS No. 2006/28. Florence: European University In­stitute. Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies.

Kantner, Cathleen (2009).'Transnational Identity-Discourse in the Mass Media. Humanitarian Military Interventions and the Emergence of a European Identity (1990-2006)', Habilitation Thesis, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.

Renfordt, S. (2009). The Emerging International Law Script in the Media: Evidence from a Longitudinal, Cross-National Analysis of Western Mass Debates about Military Interventions, 1990 to 2005. PhD dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin.